Dry Eye Disease (DED) is a relatively common condition characterized by inadequate tear film protection of the cornea. Dry eye symptoms have traditionally been managed with eyelid hygiene, topical antibiotics (erythromycin or bacitracin ointments), oral tetracyclines (tetracycline, doxycycline, or minocycline), anti-inflammatory compounds (cyclosporine) and corticosteroids which are often time consuming, frustrating, and frequently ineffective or variably effective treatments.
Tens of millions of people (mostly women) are affected worldwide by dry eye. 10 million people in US are affected with severe dry eyes with more than 3.2 million women and 1.6 million men above the age of 50 years being affected by dry eye in the US. DED is a potentially disabling disease adversely impacting the vision-related quality of life. It leads to ocular discomfort, a degradation in visual performance (reading speed, contrast sensitivity) and a loss of productivity. Current therapeutic options are limited and costly. Topical cyclosporine-A (Restasis®) is the only approved treatment for DED in US. Despite the high incidence of DED, there is currently no consistently effective treatment for this condition and it still remains a therapeutic challenge. As such, there is a need for new therapeutic modalities to treat DED.